So, obviously like everyone else there's a lot that's been going through my mind about the final and the results, and i've been holding off posting until i could be sure what exactly to say about it, and i'm gonna try to get it all summed up somewhat coherently here.
First off, like it seems perhaps a majority of Eurofans, i'm less than satisfied with the winner and how it all went. It's ironic because Loreen is one of their most favorite winners and overall acts, yet many if not most Eurofans are disappointed that she won, and it shouldn't be hard to see why. The song was IMO unexciting and sub-par for her, and the whole win felt pre--arranged, which much has been said about already.
I got a feeling one reason she recieved so many jury points is because they wanted the sensation of another two-time winner, rather than the qualities of the entry. Adding to the irony, Loreen herself didn't even seem to care very much about it, she wasn't excited to be declared winner at all, which could suggest she somehow knew she was pre-decided to win, or didn't care either way. Swedes are, to quote Donald Trump, "tired of winning" at this point, they act as if it's like the Hockey championships or something, where it's just "oh look, we won it again, whatever".
Compare this to Finland, where people were wearing neon green in the streets, dressing up like Käärijä in the audience and shops put neon green things in their windows to celebrate Finland being a possible winner - it's a big damn thing for them, which should make anyone think they're so much more deserving than Sweden.
I'm actually surprised that reporting on this is so balanced this time, even in Swedish media, and not the "OMG you're all just jealous of our greatness" one could fear. Even casual ESC viewers - even in Sweden - are genuinely put off by what happened, particularly as Käärijä got quite popular here in Sweden too, and many though Loreen was good but overrated, and represented the old ESC/Melodifestivalen establishment which needs to be taught a lesson.
Which brings the next point: can anyone seriously say they're excited for another Swedish hosting? How is it gonna be any different than the two previous ones? We pretty much know what it's gonna be - same production team as MF, same outwardly self-mocking irony that's smug and ignorant towards the rest of Europe and what the contest means to them, sigh.
Another thing that puts me off is that Swedes, both in general and those within the MF/SVT industry, never show any gratitude when Sweden wins or does well. They don't thank the other countries for voting for them and appreciating their entries, they just act smug like it's because they're superior to all countries. How can so many non-ESC fans really say "Sweden has the best entries" when they even openly say that they don't listen to all the other entries each year?
I seriously think Sweden should consider turning down hosting for a third time in almost a decade, i haven't heard any serious calls from politicians etc. but i wouldn't be surprised if there are some soon. There's really nothing particular to achieve by hosting it at this point. The two previous hostings didn't even display much Swedish culture and i think the outcome in economy and related ways wasn't very positive, not enough to justify doing it again in such a short space of time.
Add to it, that my personal view of a Swedish hosting, like quite a few other Eurofans, is low because the two previous ones were two of the worst recent editions in several ways.
2013 had a strange, small stage, at least two of the most anger-inducing NQs in history, several disappointing results in the final, and several claims of outright sabotage of the intended stagings by the Swedish team. 2016 had another strange, awkward stage layout, several claims of sabotage and most notably, IMO the lowest quality of entries in any recent edition, and while that may not have had much to do with the host country, the pattern can't be ignored. For good reasons, i'm fearing "Sweden hosting" equals lousy songs and/or the best entries getting sabotaged by producers.
To return to the other subject, the previous time televotes picked another winner, in 2019, it didn't create any real noticable upset because Norway's Keiino wasn't a favorite with media or the public in the same way, and the system was so new that many didn't even realize what happened. As a Sámi person, i have a special reason for wanting them to win, but i would probably still have said they were the rightful winner, particularly as i hated Duncan Lawrence's entry, and it even only managed to make 3rd place with juries and 2nd with televotes, the weakest placements for a winner in history.
I don't really count 2016 as it wasn't as far off in points, and Jamala was the winner that televotes & juries could fairly agree upon. Frankly, what would people think now if Russia had actually won that year? I think most of Sergey's supporters would stay pretty quiet.
Which brings us to another problem with the current system, minor compared to the results themselves, but it seems somehow wrong that the way the points are presented doesn't honor the televote winner enough. In 2019, it wasn't really clear who got the most televote points - this year, it was, because the difference was so big and the crowd even cheered for Käärijjä, but it doesn't seem right that the presentation obscures who actually got the most votes, as most viewers won't bother to look it up afterwards.
There's something inherently backwards about showing the jury votes from each country and then televotes in one big lump - you could say the opposite way would make more sense, but unfortunately it's easy to see why they chose this way. If they were to show the televotes first, it would give the impression of the jury votes "stealing" the win from the "rightful" winner that the people selected - which might be exactly what you think it is, but they don't want to encourage that kind of thinking, thus they chose a way that deliberately makes it hard to see who actually got most televote points.
It remains to see what the EBU will do about this and i'm certainly excited to find out, and either way it's good that the criticism of the juries have actually reached mainstream media this time, as it failed to do in 2019. I was never really a fan of juries when they were re-introduced in the first place, and i hope they consider some big reform to how they work now.
Just one more thing about the results this year, what the bloody hell were the juries thinking putting ISRAEL SECOND?!? Even televoters only put it 4th! I guess they just fell for the way she delivered those ear-piercing long notes so loud, clear and completely without any expression at all, before launching into a ridiculous dance exercise with no singing for the rest of the song? "Unicorn" exemplifies exactly the kind of song juries should punish for good reason, yet they put it higher than Australia, Spain and Armenia - can anyone explain how it fits their criteria?
And Italy, the jury 3rd place, was dated, generic second-rate nonsense, but i'm not as surprised about that one. Croatia deserved a little higher, they're real musicians with a lot of thought and creativity put into their song, and Germany at least shouldn't have been below Poland, UK (yikes!) and Serbia (love the guy, but he literally didn't sing) in the jury ratings either.
Overall though, besides the bitterness, a pretty good show, they handled the "dual country hosting" pretty well, great stage design, good stagings, some disappointing performances, some i knew were gonna be bad, and not all that surprising qualifiers - i really wanted Azerbaijan and Romania in though - i can see why Georgia fans are pissed, but i wasn't that surprised, and it was televotes after all.
I just hope everyone can learn the right lessons from this edition, but given that the next host is Sweden, it doesn't seem so likely...
First off, like it seems perhaps a majority of Eurofans, i'm less than satisfied with the winner and how it all went. It's ironic because Loreen is one of their most favorite winners and overall acts, yet many if not most Eurofans are disappointed that she won, and it shouldn't be hard to see why. The song was IMO unexciting and sub-par for her, and the whole win felt pre--arranged, which much has been said about already.
I got a feeling one reason she recieved so many jury points is because they wanted the sensation of another two-time winner, rather than the qualities of the entry. Adding to the irony, Loreen herself didn't even seem to care very much about it, she wasn't excited to be declared winner at all, which could suggest she somehow knew she was pre-decided to win, or didn't care either way. Swedes are, to quote Donald Trump, "tired of winning" at this point, they act as if it's like the Hockey championships or something, where it's just "oh look, we won it again, whatever".
Compare this to Finland, where people were wearing neon green in the streets, dressing up like Käärijä in the audience and shops put neon green things in their windows to celebrate Finland being a possible winner - it's a big damn thing for them, which should make anyone think they're so much more deserving than Sweden.
I'm actually surprised that reporting on this is so balanced this time, even in Swedish media, and not the "OMG you're all just jealous of our greatness" one could fear. Even casual ESC viewers - even in Sweden - are genuinely put off by what happened, particularly as Käärijä got quite popular here in Sweden too, and many though Loreen was good but overrated, and represented the old ESC/Melodifestivalen establishment which needs to be taught a lesson.
Which brings the next point: can anyone seriously say they're excited for another Swedish hosting? How is it gonna be any different than the two previous ones? We pretty much know what it's gonna be - same production team as MF, same outwardly self-mocking irony that's smug and ignorant towards the rest of Europe and what the contest means to them, sigh.
Another thing that puts me off is that Swedes, both in general and those within the MF/SVT industry, never show any gratitude when Sweden wins or does well. They don't thank the other countries for voting for them and appreciating their entries, they just act smug like it's because they're superior to all countries. How can so many non-ESC fans really say "Sweden has the best entries" when they even openly say that they don't listen to all the other entries each year?
I seriously think Sweden should consider turning down hosting for a third time in almost a decade, i haven't heard any serious calls from politicians etc. but i wouldn't be surprised if there are some soon. There's really nothing particular to achieve by hosting it at this point. The two previous hostings didn't even display much Swedish culture and i think the outcome in economy and related ways wasn't very positive, not enough to justify doing it again in such a short space of time.
Add to it, that my personal view of a Swedish hosting, like quite a few other Eurofans, is low because the two previous ones were two of the worst recent editions in several ways.
2013 had a strange, small stage, at least two of the most anger-inducing NQs in history, several disappointing results in the final, and several claims of outright sabotage of the intended stagings by the Swedish team. 2016 had another strange, awkward stage layout, several claims of sabotage and most notably, IMO the lowest quality of entries in any recent edition, and while that may not have had much to do with the host country, the pattern can't be ignored. For good reasons, i'm fearing "Sweden hosting" equals lousy songs and/or the best entries getting sabotaged by producers.
To return to the other subject, the previous time televotes picked another winner, in 2019, it didn't create any real noticable upset because Norway's Keiino wasn't a favorite with media or the public in the same way, and the system was so new that many didn't even realize what happened. As a Sámi person, i have a special reason for wanting them to win, but i would probably still have said they were the rightful winner, particularly as i hated Duncan Lawrence's entry, and it even only managed to make 3rd place with juries and 2nd with televotes, the weakest placements for a winner in history.
I don't really count 2016 as it wasn't as far off in points, and Jamala was the winner that televotes & juries could fairly agree upon. Frankly, what would people think now if Russia had actually won that year? I think most of Sergey's supporters would stay pretty quiet.
Which brings us to another problem with the current system, minor compared to the results themselves, but it seems somehow wrong that the way the points are presented doesn't honor the televote winner enough. In 2019, it wasn't really clear who got the most televote points - this year, it was, because the difference was so big and the crowd even cheered for Käärijjä, but it doesn't seem right that the presentation obscures who actually got the most votes, as most viewers won't bother to look it up afterwards.
There's something inherently backwards about showing the jury votes from each country and then televotes in one big lump - you could say the opposite way would make more sense, but unfortunately it's easy to see why they chose this way. If they were to show the televotes first, it would give the impression of the jury votes "stealing" the win from the "rightful" winner that the people selected - which might be exactly what you think it is, but they don't want to encourage that kind of thinking, thus they chose a way that deliberately makes it hard to see who actually got most televote points.
It remains to see what the EBU will do about this and i'm certainly excited to find out, and either way it's good that the criticism of the juries have actually reached mainstream media this time, as it failed to do in 2019. I was never really a fan of juries when they were re-introduced in the first place, and i hope they consider some big reform to how they work now.
Just one more thing about the results this year, what the bloody hell were the juries thinking putting ISRAEL SECOND?!? Even televoters only put it 4th! I guess they just fell for the way she delivered those ear-piercing long notes so loud, clear and completely without any expression at all, before launching into a ridiculous dance exercise with no singing for the rest of the song? "Unicorn" exemplifies exactly the kind of song juries should punish for good reason, yet they put it higher than Australia, Spain and Armenia - can anyone explain how it fits their criteria?
And Italy, the jury 3rd place, was dated, generic second-rate nonsense, but i'm not as surprised about that one. Croatia deserved a little higher, they're real musicians with a lot of thought and creativity put into their song, and Germany at least shouldn't have been below Poland, UK (yikes!) and Serbia (love the guy, but he literally didn't sing) in the jury ratings either.
Overall though, besides the bitterness, a pretty good show, they handled the "dual country hosting" pretty well, great stage design, good stagings, some disappointing performances, some i knew were gonna be bad, and not all that surprising qualifiers - i really wanted Azerbaijan and Romania in though - i can see why Georgia fans are pissed, but i wasn't that surprised, and it was televotes after all.
I just hope everyone can learn the right lessons from this edition, but given that the next host is Sweden, it doesn't seem so likely...
